How to Make Your Own House For Your Dolls

A dollhouse is a traditional toy perfect for little girls who are old enough to help you with arts and crafts but still young enough to enjoy playing with dolls.

Building a doll house is a fairly complex at home craft that your daughter (or son) can help you with.

Here’s a quick guide for how to make your own house for your dolls.

Select a Scale

Standard doll house scale is 1/12th–that means that the door is 1/12th the size of an actual door, the windows are 1/12th the size of actual windows, etc. But you can make a smaller or larger doll house by increasing or decreasing the scale.

Find a Cutting Plan

The easiest way to get the bulk of your dollhouse finished is to find an online cutting plan for a doll house and bring it to a hardware store to have your wood cut for you. Search for dollhouse cutting plans and pick the one you like.

Put the Dollhouse Together

Using your cutting plan, start assembling the dollhouse with wood glue and other craft supplies. You still aren’t actually designing anything in this step, but your child can help you assemble the dollhouse. Wood glue is a pretty safe craft material for kids of all ages, just make sure they don’t eat it.

Exterior Design

You’re limited only by your creativity and your craft supplies here. I’ve used fake siding for dollhouse exterior–made from cutting thin strips of wood and layering them like actual siding–and I’ve used plain matte paint. You can go exotic and use actual roofing tiles or siding for your dollhouse, but that adds a lot of extra steps in preparation. Let your child pick the design they like, and get painting.

Interior Design

Let your child design the interior including selecting furniture and other additions to the dollhouse. A trip to your local hobby shop or even a craft store should get their juices flowing. Just make sure you and your child decide ahead of time on a budget. Knowing what rooms you want in your dollhouse is a big help too.

Putting a dollhouse together with your kid is most of the fun of the dollhouse. Dollhouses are a beautiful and traditional addition to any kid’s bedroom, and they’re functional too. Use the dollhouse to store your kid’s dolls, and if you built it well, you may be able to pass it on to your grandchildren and great-grandchildren one day.